Abstract
The Atlantic coast of Morocco has been exposed to marine submersion events from storm surges and tsunamis which have resulted in human and economic losses. The absence of long term records for these hazards makes it difficult to trace their behavior through time, which is the first step to prepare proactive adaptation strategies for events that may happen in the future. In this paper, we present a late Holocene record of marine submersion events along the Atlantic coast of Morocco using a 2.7 m sediment core sampled from the Tahaddart estuary. The sedimentological and geochemical analyses conducted on this geological archive showed a mud-dominated sequence with 14 allochthonous sandy layers (E1-E14) left by marine high-energy events. The deposition age of three layers (E1, E13 and E14) has been determined using conventional dating methods (210Pbex, 137Cs and 14C). The first layer, introduced as E1 seems to fit with the great Lisbon tsunami in 1755 CE (Common Era), an event dated for the first time along the Atlantic coast of Morocco. The other two layers, referred to as E13 and E14, were dated between 3464 and 2837 cal BP (calibrated years Before Present) and chronologically correlated with marine high-energy deposits found on the Spanish Atlantic coast. This correlation confirms the existence of another regional event around 3200 BP.
Highlights
The Atlantic coast of Morocco is already suffering from diverse human pressures, including urban sprawl, pollution and the over-exploitation of coastal resources (Snoussi et al 2008)
A Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was performed on this set of data, made of 15 variables and 39 samples in order to geochemically characterize all sources of sediment arriving at the Tahaddart estuary
Samples situated on the watershed are rich in Rb (> 30 ppm) and poor in Ca (< 10 ppm), which pinpoints that elements from the first pole can be used to trace fluvial sediment inputs into the Tahaddart estuary
Summary
The Atlantic coast of Morocco is already suffering from diverse human pressures, including urban sprawl, pollution and the over-exploitation of coastal resources (Snoussi et al 2008). Marine high-energy events are putting additional pressure on this area, causing temporary flooding of coastal lowlands and placing life and property at risk. A primary example is tsunami waves, which have historically been reported multiple times along Morocco’s Atlantic coast. During this event, property damage and loss of life were reported in several cities between Tangier and Agadir (Mellas 2012). Several earthquakes are regularly generated in this area, some of which have been able to produce tsunami waves (El Alami and Tinti 1991; Gutscher et al 2006); (2) a volcanic source that has been highly publicized, is the Cumbre Vieja volcano, located in the Canary Islands.
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